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With the 2016 election, we have a rare opportunity to break the chokehold the neoliberal agenda has maintained for nearly half a century on the political, economic, and social life of this nation. To do so, we will have to get over the crushing cynicism that has defined establishment politics for decades and elect Bernie Sanders as president.
For too many liberals, the far-right obstructionists in Congress and state governments have served as an excuse for resignation and lowered expectations. But not everything can be blamed on the right. In his important new book, Listen, Liberal, Thomas Frank aptly describes how the Democratic Party steadily shifted away from its traditional working-class base and became a champion of Wall Street and Silicon Valley technocrats. It's an inconvenient truth that many of the policies that produced decades of wage stagnation, massively transferred wealth to the 1 percent, and created the "you're on your own" society started not with Ronald Reagan but with his predecessor, Jimmy Carter, a Democrat.
As Frank notes, it took the presidency of Bill Clinton to bring this new world order to full fruition. From the shredding of manufacturing jobs with NAFTA to the 1994 crime bill, from the gutting of welfare that left millions in extreme poverty to deregulating the banking, electricity, and telecom industries—Clinton cemented the Democratic Party's alignment with Wall Street and global capital. As a result, millions of American workers and families continue to struggle in an economy tilted to the wealthy and the elite and a political system corrupted by corporate donors and billionaires.
While electing Hillary Clinton would be a symbolic first, nothing in her record or her campaign suggests that she would break the class ceiling or reverse the marriage of the Democratic Party to Wall Street and K Street. Indeed, much of her campaign is a reminder of the "triangulation" that so characterized the Bill Clinton years. To cite just a few examples:
- Hillary Clinton attacks the premise of single-payer and insists we can't "refight" healthcare. Instead, she merely promises to tweak the gaping holes in the Affordable Care Act.
- Rather than banning fracking, as Sanders favors, she proposes "safeguards" that rely on companies to disclose the deadly chemicals they use. But these measures would do little to reduce the carbon emissions that jeopardize public health and cause climate change.
- She insists her plan for Wall Street is "tougher" than Sanders's, while seeing no conflict in the funding she received from the financial-services industry for years. She reassures us that she counseled the bankers to cut it out before the meltdown, while continuing to hide transcripts of the speeches to Goldman Sachs, for which she was paid $675,000 that one attendee says were "glowing about us." (Corrected: An earlier version of this article mistakenly cited $675 million.)
- In the area of experience she touts most, foreign policy, her fondness for regime change—as evidenced in Libya (which President Obama now calls his "worst mistake"), her implicit support of a disastrous coup in Honduras, and her embrace of Henry Kissinger—hardly offer comfort.
Fortunately, we have an alternative. Bernie Sanders's campaign—and the movement aligned with it—is the most significant effort to uproot the Democratic Party establishment in decades (with a nod to the Rev. Jesse Jackson who, like Sanders, was demonized by both the corporate media and party elites).


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WASHINGTON — The Nationals offense erupted when it mattered most, breaking Game 3 of the National League Division Series against the Dodgers wide open with a four-run ninth inning to take a 2-1 series lead on Monday.
The Nats seemingly had an answer for everything the Dodgers threw at them. LA again struck first in the opening frame, with Corey Seager doubling home Justin Turner to take an early 1-0 lead.
Two innings later, Trea Turner singled, and Jayson Werth doubled to bring him home, tying the game 1-1. And then Bryce Harper singled, scoring Werth. Anthony Rendon followed up with a home run, emptying the bases to give the Nats a 4-1 lead.
The Dodgers returned with a two-run homer of their own, off the bat of Carlos Ruiz — a last-second pinch-hitter — to pull within one run in the fifth.
The Nationals weren't done. Staring down the barrel of facing Game 4 elimination, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts elected to bring in his closer, Kenley Jansen, in the top of the ninth with the hope of keeping the score 4-3. But it backfired.
Werth took Jansen deep, deep, deep to left field on a 1-0 fastball to lead off the ninth, giving his club a much-needed insurance run to make the score 5-3. It also put Werth in elite historic company, tying him with Babe Ruth for 15 career postseason home runs, good for 11th all-time. Nelson Cruz and Carlos Beltran are tied for ninth on that list with 16.
Daniel Murphy walked in the next at-bat. Harper was then hit by a pitch to give the Nats runners on first and second.
Ryan Zimmerman then doubled to right field, with the ball glancing of Josh Reddick's glove, to score Murphy and Harper for a 7-3 lead. Zimmerman advanced to third on the throwout attempt at home.
After another pitching change, Chris Heisey hit a sacrifice fly to left field off right-handed reliever Ross Stripling, deep enough to score Zimmerman for a commanding 8-3 lead. Mark Melancon closed out the victory for Washington by retiring the side in the bottom of the ninth.
With a Game 4 win on Tuesday, the Nationals can clinch their first NLCS appearance.
Follow @ChrisLingebach and @1067TheFan on Twitter.

subset: commoncrawl


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Re: Absher in Navarro Co., TX
In reply to:
Absher in Navarro Co., TX
I have John Abshire b. 1829 married 2/16/1860 Nacogdoches Tx to Sarah D. Weeks. John's parentswere Edward Abshire b. abt 1797 Franklin Va and mother Martha unknown b. 1800 in Franklin Va. Edward died in 1870 Texas Martha died in 1880 Nacogdoches Texas. I dont have dates on the wifesbut hope that this will help a little...


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I went to a funeral in Ten Sleep today. My friend, Little Shirley, died March 7th. She had been in ill health for several years, but still it's sad to lose a friend. At least she is not suffering any more.
It was a very "up beat" service. The singer did a beautiful job. The minister read a poem from the children, and a granddaughter read one from all the grandchildren. Then people were invited to share little stories for the memories. There were quite a few. The Church was packed. After the service they went across the street to the cemetary for graveside service, then back to the church for a luncheon.
I missed the graveside service as I was visiting with a woman from my childhood. They lived across the street from us when I was in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades. She was two years younger and her sister was a year older. Anyway she now lives in the house that we lived in way back then. We had quite a chat. She met her husband in Las Vegas and they came back to Worland to get married. Usually people go to Vegas to get married not leave. She thought that was funny.
When the people came back for the lunch I got in a short visit with Little Shirley's sisters from Nebraska. I knew two of them from Omaha days. The older sister I had met a time or two, but didn't know her as well. It was good to see them and find out about some of the others that we all roomed with from time to time back then. Also got to visit Big Shirley. She lived with Little Shirley in Worland when I was in High School and is Little Shirley's husband's sister. Finally got a chance to visit with Alice, who is my sister's classmate, but she was always my friend too.
The day was overcast, but warm and nice. On the way out of Mtse this morning I drove by the Grass Creek turn off and there was a huge bull elk right in the gateway. Had to turn around and go back to get his picture. Two Game and Fish trucks were there by then, but he wasn't going away. It was like he was pacing back and forth to guard the gateway. Then a big semi came around the corner, so I assume he moved, but I was gone by then and the elk wasn't anywhere around when I came back.


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Stone the Crows
THE THING I want to do the most
is get up and throw stones at them crows.
They make so much noise
I just can't sleep
neither can the boys.
At least that's what I think.
We're a silent lot, I don't speak much
I think of the cost
. . . the nurses, their pills and their oils, but
the crows.
I think of my plan, the pain is so bad.
In she comes with her tray sets it down by the window, takes hold of my face and tips a plastic cup into my mouth, take these now, she says, its for the pain and to help you sleep. They want us drowsy and kept,
not upset.
But the pain gets much worse and I think soon I'll do it. It's time for the cull.
When she looks back, it looks like I'm chewing
then she gives me some water, I swallow that fine.
When I think of my plan, my pills safe stored away, that auld water is wine.
I toast to the cave gods, the ones before this.
She trundles along the corridor, mopping up all the piss.
Her swish and her swoop
ain't as bad as them birds, them crowing conniving cawing out whores.
Taking that every morning is a too soon shroud.
It's the round and round of the hate and the damn and the hard and the now.
"A great clanging sound."
The terrible currency
the constancy
since learning to measure
how can it be that I can be better?
is spent.
I wasted it on things like them crows.
On wishing it was
with a sad face when it wasn't.
Them crows is the music
of the times that I couldn't.
I wink to the others; it's all right boys
it's just fine
I've got a plan to do away all that noise.
The unmoving cost of life's climb
is no choice.
The pain sets in and it's all I can do not to cry out what I plan to do.
I practice.
I work my arm when no one would notice.
I just need to throw far enough for their reach.
One day, there's a cake, we're allowed a piece each.
With the others all mulching, I pretend to eat
In the morning, I hear silence
the nurse is screaming, "they're dead, they're all dead"
I can hear her all right, and the pain ain't so bad
I've let it all out and I'm laughing like mad
Crows ain't screeching or hawking, or hanging off window sills
They're all laid out on the lawn, stoned on my cake stuffed with pills.


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At Nordic Innovators, we are very excited to have assisted four Danish companies in receiving funding for adaptation and test of their products. The Danish companies behind the projects; WakeUpData ApS, GAN Integrity Solutions ApS, tiimo ApS, and Linc Systems ApS will now be able to bring their innovative projects faster to the market.
In 2015, the Danish Market Development Fund implemented a new application process referred to as dialogue-based that complements the previous normal application process. The dialogue-based application procedure requires companies to take part in a phone based pre-screening process in order to give the companies faster access to funding. In 2016, the dialogue-based process will replace the old application process. Read more about the Danish Market Development Fund here.
Two of the four Nordic Innovators projects, WakeupData and Linc Systems, have received funding through the dialogue-based procedure, and GAN Integrity Solutions and tiimo through the normal application process.
Short about the winning projects
WakeupData: Market disruptive online data integration platform for e-shops
The objective of the project is to test and adapt a disruptive on-the-cloud online data integration platform providing easy, cost-effective and automated integration of business' critical data targeting small and medium sized e-shops. Read more about WakeupData and their business here.
Linc System: Innovative building energy management solution
The main objective of the project is to test and adapt a solution leveraging the internet-of-things (IoT), enabling real-time analytics and management of any electrical network in a building. Linc's software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution will provide cloud-based data storage with access to control dashboards on any web or mobile device and seamless integration of powerful analytics from any specialised energy analytics providers on the market, thus enabling efficient BEM with estimated customer costs savings in the 30% range. Read more about Linc Systems and their business here.
GAN Integrity Solutions: A market disruptive compliance software
Gan Integrity Solutions will perform a large-scale test of their ComplyGo software to receive important feedback from lead users. ComplyGo will remove integrity compliance as a competitiveness barrier for SMEs through an affordable cloud-based platform, automated and easy to use. Read more about GAN Integrity Solutions and their business here.
tiimo: Assistive technology to aid ADHD children
The objective of the project is to perform large-scale tests in collaboration with ADHD children, their families and teachers. Throughout the project, tiimo will intensively test and improve the technology – providing important and valuable feedback that will be merged into the personalised ADHD solution ensuring an optimised product to ADHD children's needs and caregivers' requirements before market. The aim is to establish proof-of-concept of the technology that will improve the daily life quality of ADHD children. Read more about tiimo here.
The next deadline for submitting dialogue-based proposals for The Market Development Fund is May 17th 2016 with pre-screenings taking place from week 9 to 18.
For further information about The Market Development Fund, or for a talk on how we can help realise your innovation project, please contact Kenneth Junge Hermansen on +45 31 20 55 38 or send an e-mail to email@example.com


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|Suresh Rajagopal <sur...@newconceptict.com>
|Voice Chat in Real Class
|Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:30:18 GMT
Dear Blue Sky Support Team, When am trying to do voice chat in Real Class System, I can able to hear teacher voice in student client system, but not able to hear student voice in teacher client system. Is there any settings need to do teacher system. i selected focus student also. Regards -- Suresh | Senior Programmer, The ICT and Web Group | New Concept Information Systems Pvt. Ltd | New Delhi| 110076. Phone: 011 29943221 (Direct) | Mobile: 9958824524 Website: www.newconceptict.com
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Newburgh NY Advance Directives
Our law office provides individualized advance directive services throughout the Hudson Valley. Health care proxies, Power of Attorney & more. Call 845-561-1951
Advance Directives help you create a contingency plan for an unexpected illness or disability. By defining your intentions and desires ahead of time, you are assured that your wishes are honored while protecting your rights.
At Glenn & Breheney PLLC, we pride ourselves on providing service that is personal and professional. At the initial consultation, an attorney will discuss your main concerns regarding Advance Directives. After the conference, we draft Advance Directives according to your specifications, providing a legal format to deal with private emotions and potentially complex family relationships.
Two types of Advance Directives that we regularly provide for our clients are Health Care Proxies and Durable General Powers of Attorney.
In New York State, healthcare matters and financial matters are dealt with separately. Health Care Proxies allow you to appoint someone you trust to make healthcare decisions for you if you are either incapacitated or unable to make decisions for yourself. Power of Attorney enables you to select someone to make financial decisions for you and take actions on your behalf.
Health Care Proxy (HCP)
Health Care Proxy forms are readily available from many sources, including the New York State Department of Health website. You may complete one without an attorney assisting you. Before appointing someone as your health care agent, you should take the time to discuss with him or her what your wishes are and whether they are willing to abide by your wishes, should the need arise. To be able to act as your agent, the person you choose must be an adult (18 years or older). You can decide to revoke the Health Care Proxy at any time, and you also can limit your agent's power with special instructions. After completing the form, you should give your agent a signed original.
On our website below, we have offered a link to the online Health Care Proxy form for your interest. Although you do not need an attorney to fill out this form for you, we routinely assist our clients by answering their questions and preparing and attending to the execution of a Health Care Proxy. Please feel free to browse the links so that you can familiarize yourself with the form and its use.
Power of Attorney (POA)
Unlike the Health Care Proxy, your Power of Attorney should be drafted by an attorney who can advise you. Like the Health Care Proxy, someone that you trust should be appointed as your Agent. Your agent must act on your direction, and, in the event that you cannot inform your agent, he or she must act in your best interests. Agents should have an understanding of their duties, and you should discuss your decision so that he or she understands your wishes. You can revoke your Power of Attorney at any time.
There are multiple forms of Powers of Attorney. For example, a Power of Attorney can be Durable or Nondurable. A Durable Power of Attorney allows your Agent to act for you if you become incapacitated.
A Nondurable Power of Attorney is only effective as long as you are capable of directing your agent. No Power of Attorney gives your agent the power to make or change your Will; and finally, a Power of Attorney does not remain in effect after your death. Because Durable Powers of Attorney allow your agent to manage your finances in case you become disabled or ill, they are a powerful tool for Estate Planning.
Below we have provided a link to Power of Attorney samples for you to browse at your convenience. We hope that you find these helpful.
Information about Health Care Proxies


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The surprising announcement was just made that the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago will not include Barack Obama's birth certificate, or any other documents from his presidency. Western Journalism reported that the Obama Foundation has instead decided to have a digital archive of his records, "the decision has historians scratching their …Read More »
George H.W. Bush: "I Don't Like Donald Trump, I Don't Know Much About Him, But I Know He's A Blowhard And I'm Not Too Excited About Him Being A Real Leader Like Barack Obama ."Do You Support?
revious President George H.W. Bush stated that he isn't excessively excited for "blowhard" President Trump and he affirmed in another book that he voted in favor of Hillary Clinton. In the book, called "The Last Republicans," the 41st president as well uncovered that he voted in favor of Trump's Democrat …Read More »
Breaking: Millions of Walmart Employees Just Got The Surprise of Their Life!
Over the past few weeks, we have been telling you about all of the companies across America who are giving HUGE bonuses and benefits to their employees ever since the GOP tax cuts officially passed in Congress. Now one of the largest employers in the world is joining in on …Read More »
Michelle Obama Emerges – Makes INFURIATING Announcement
There's a longstanding tradition in the U.S. that former First Ladies have enough class to retreat from the spotlight and allow the successor to complete her duties unchallenged. Unfortunately, Michelle Obama is a classless egomaniac, and she has spent the last year traveling the world trying to steal as much …Read More »
DAMNING OPRAH VIDEO GOES PUBLIC – It's All Over for Her
Ever since Sunday night, rumors have been swirling that former talk show host Oprah Winfrey is preparing to run for president after she gave a speech that brought Hollywood's liberal elite to their feet at the Golden Globes. Now, however, Oprah's presidential dreams may be dead in the water as …Read More »
John McCain's Legacy DEMOLISHED Overnight As Alarming Scandals Leak
For years, John McCain has used his Vietnam POW story and veteran status to rise to political prominence, for decades portraying himself as a "Vietnam war hero." His prestige as an American "war hero" afforded him the opportunity to become a United States Senator, where this this facade has allowed …Read More »
Elizabeth Warren May Loose Her Seat to A Gop Navy Seal..
Though she was once viewed as the next big star in the Democrat Party, things aren't looking as good as they used to for Massachusetts Sen. Fauxcahontas, er, Lieawatha, sorry, Elizabeth Warren, as she prepares to defend her Senate seat from Republican challengers in 2018. One such challenger who may …Read More »
Country Stars Warned About Bashing Trump At Awards Show But They Didn't Listen, Now Look What Happened
This is normal in liberal Hollywood since stages dependably appears to display the opportunity to cause political fire in front pf the whole nation. The hosts of the 51st Annual Country Music Awards (CMA) were cautioned about bringing legislative issues into their honors introduction and they didn't tune in. Presently, they're seeing some enormous …Read More »
In a brand new video posted to his Facebook page, Bill O'Reilly explains why Barack Hussein Obama is the one pulling the strings to urge Oprah to run for President in 2020. O'Reilly correctly states that Obama doesn't like seeing his entire Presidency wiped away by President Trump, and he …Read More »
Trump Orders to Remove Obama Highway Name and Get Back The Previous Name of `Old Dixie' Highway? Do you support him?
Sometimes most of us rush to disregard the importance of names. With so many new things being created every day, things of the past can be perceived as "less relevant". But, it's for this same reason that names also have one valuable role. They allow us to preserve our legacy …Read More »


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London Antiques Photographer
As a London Antiques Photographer, Antiques photography was my initial springboard to my career in commercial photography and I still continue to take on many commissions annually alongside wedding, event, and portrait reportage photography.
My clients are mostly private collectors and dealers (UK and International) and my images have been featured in exhibitions, books, trade and speciality magazines, brochures, catalogues and the national press. I work quickly, discreetly and ensure that all of my clients details remain completely confidential. Pricing is available on application. I also have experience bidding at auctions including Sotheby's on behalf of clients. As well as collecting the winning bid for photography before delivering safely to my clients.
I recently completed a very exciting project which was the culmination of several years of photography for the book '300 Years of Tobacco Stoppers' by Alastair Leslie. This involved photographing over 1,500 Tobacco Stoppers of all shapes and sizes and different materials. Much of the work was shot at my London Studio. Others were photographed on location all over the UK at various museums and in private collections. The book is considered as the defining book on the history of Tobacco Stoppers.
As a London Antiques Photographer I photograph all types and sizes of antiques in a variety of materials including glass, metal, wood, ceramics, bone, ivory etc. Depending on size, objects can be photographed in my studio or in situ. Sometimes a home, showroom, gallery or museum.
I'm always excited by a new or unusual piece and I'm very particular about detail and lighting.
Many of my clients exhibit at the Olympia International Art and Antiques Fair and Haughton International Fairs
You can also view a selection of my Antiques Photography work and clients here:


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We often pass this brand, but rarely stop to take a closer look. Anyway, recently at the Dolce and Gabbana store also we did also see this rather rare form of presentation; the use of what we call illusory figures. We have found that we had to give these types of schemes a name as we occasionally see them and no information currently exists. In our book Fashion Visual Merchandising which is being published later this year by Bloomsbury we give a rather more coherent explanation of this type of presentation.
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
Marithe Francois Girbaud, London
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Many thanks for leaving your comments which are always most welcome; we are unable to respond to every single one individually but we do read them all.
(A huge apology for this horrible word verification also which is in place to eliminate the dreaded spam).
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Jonathan & Team
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Re: Henry Airth/Marion Park - Ontario
In reply to:
Henry Airth/Marion Park - Ontario
I am a beginner in this and from bits and pieces I have collected from elder family members, most of whom have passed away, I am trying to fit the pieces together.
I have read all the replies to this post and recognize the last names of these people but cannot figure out how they all fit, if at all.I know the names Airth, Black, Jamieson, come from my paternal grandmother's side. I am trying to figure out how I fit in to the Airth's.
My grandmother's name was Ivie Mae Jamieson (1910), married to Charles Nathaniel Grace.She had 7 brothers and sisters: (Sarah)Isabel, Marguerite, Marion, William, Jean (whose middle name is Airth), Grace and (Harry)Alexander.
Their parents where Marian (Myrn) Black (1878-1947) and Harry Jamieson (1878-1953).
Before this comes William Black (1844-1929) and Margaret Mackay (1850-1931)(daughter of Owen macKay and Brigid Dolingham).
William Balck's parents were James Black (1807-1885) and Agnes Bryson (1808-1902).


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BBC Books, out now
The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are forced to investigate an anomaly among the rings of Saturn…
The garnering of big names for the original Doctor Who novels continues, with hard science fiction author Stephen Baxter the latest to show his love for the nearly-fifty year old series with this story that combines the slightly scientific whimsy of the Second Doctor's era with up to date theories.
This is one of those novels that could only have been written well after the classic series completed its run on-air: like Simon Guerrier's The Time Travellers, one of the last Past Doctor novels to appear from the BBC way back in 2005, it builds its history on elements from all through the show. There are mentions of UNIT, and links to adventures for many of the Doctors who followed Troughton in the role. There's even, wonderfully, a scientific explanation for the time machine in Evil of the Daleks!
Baxter has a good handle on the regular characters, capturing the way in which the Second Doctor could turn from whimsy to commanding in an instant, and putting both Jamie and Zoe in situations outwith their normal experience: both of them find themselves responsible for people younger than themselves, and there's some wry humour derived from each situation.
The new characters aren't simply ciphers, especially the Scottish computer MMAC. There's a definite feel that we are coming into a world that already exists, rather than one that simply is there for the purposes of this story, and Baxter's gift for blending the scientific explanations within the drama is well-displayed here.
Baxter's been very busy – his first Long Earth novel with Terry Pratchett was out a few weeks back; his Science of Avatar not long before that, and another original novel of his own, Iron Winter, was published on August 16 – but there's never a feel that this is a rushed project. Like some of the best of the Who novels from the hiatus, this is a story that certainly could be told without the presence of the Doctor and his friends, but would have a very different outcome.
P.S. Once you've read it, check out the deleted scenes on Stephen Baxter's website here.
Verdict: A master of the genre tackles the Time Lord with great results. 8/10
Paul Simpson
Click here to order Doctor Who: The Wheel of Ice from Amazon.co.uk


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Did you know there is a way to monitor your heart health in your home?
An easy- to- use, wireless telemonitor gives you and our nurses' daily insight into your cardiac health changes. Call us about telemonitoring services when you:
- have had a recent cardiac event or new diagnosis
- are recovering from heart surgery
- live with congestive heart failure (CHF) or coronary artery disease
- have begun taking a new cardiac medication
Your doctor will give us medical orders and oversee your care. Our cardiac nurses update your doctor on your condition and work with him or her to change your treatment plan, as needed.
Working with your nurse, you will create a "plan of care" to meet your personal health needs. Your plan will include regular nursing services to:
- Provide one-on-one training for you and family on the telemonitoring equipment
- Check, your weight, blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen level and day to day well being through the telemonitor,
- Monitor your vital signs to help prevent a trip to the hospital
Your visiting nurse may also bring in other professionals to help you:
- Physical or occupational therapists to help you improve your ability to function more quickly.
- Social worker to help you cope with illness or find community resources
- Dietician to improve your diet
- Home health aide to help you with activities such as bathing, dressing, walking, cooking, and eating.
We do not charge our patients for this telemonitoring service. We are grateful to generous community support and donations that enable us to keep this service free. Visit our "support us" page to make a donation.


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Immeasurably More
Immeasurably More Capital Campaign
In July of 2017, the Board of Trustees approved for FUMC to start a 90-day Capital Campaign to address the urgent needs our our campus. This Campaign began in August and will run through the end of October. We have begun to address some of the items outlined in the Campaign. Please see below the areas that are being addressed.


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At the core of TLI is a multi-year leadership certificate program. This program equips students to develop the wisdom and character necessary to grow as faithful leaders during their time at Grove City College and throughout their lives.
Students accepted into the program will be equipped to improve their study and college experience for their development as Christian leaders. Via a series of workshops, participants are challenged to wrestle with questions intended to help discern their calling, the manner in which they ought to pursue it, and the proper means to faithfully lead others to where they are called.
Application to the TLI leadership certificate program is open to all students.
If you are interested in learning more about the Telos Leadership Institute, contact Eric Phillips, Director of Student Leadership Development.


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Observing temperature patterns in the lower stratosphere gives scientists clues about our planet's changing climate. Global average temperatures in the lower stratosphere for 2013 were slightly below the 1981–2010 average.
April showers and cool temperatures brought drought relief to many areas across the United States, but conditions worsened in the Southwest.
Temperatures measured on land and at sea for more than a century show that Earth's globally averaged surface temperature is rising.
In this week's ENSO blog, Tom DiLiberto gets all judgy over the 2017-2018 Winter Outlook—using science of course.
La Nina conditions appear to have peaked in strength and will likely last through the upcoming winter.
The forecast of ENSO is not the only thing scientists use when making seasonal forecasts. This post looks at another predictor that often is even better to use than ENSO.
Now that the 2016-2017 winter is over with, it's time to look back and see what happened. Did our winter outlook do well?
Drought has broken out across the southeast and southern plains this summer and fall. What got us to this situation, and how do we deal drought, which is unlike many of our weather hazards?
How do we verify forecasts that use probabilities? Read on to find out.


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The briefing has concluded.
This is off topic big time.
Sharing a personal experience with DIRECTV.
In June 2015 I opted for DIRECTV service.
When I phoned in my service request, I was told they were running a special that included service and programming discounts and the special included a $200 Visa card and free enrollment to NFL Sunday.
I had to call four times after enrollment to finally get my Visa card. I did receive it after about two months.
Interestingly, each time I called, the service rep would say, "I'm sorry that you were misinformed on your previous call." Seems that although they offered the card – I did not request it – they were not about to send it until I was consistently insistent in my inquiries about receiving the card.
In addition, at the time of enrollment, I explained that I would never, ever watch NFL Sunday. I asked at that time not to have that free programming included with my account. I asked how much that service would cost if it were not free and was told it would be over $300. I was told that I could not decline it because it was part of the special offer.
I was told to call prior to the end of December 2015 and request that the NFL programming be terminated. I called and was told – you guessed it – that I had been "misinformed" because the service could not be terminated until after the Super Bowl had been played.
So, I phoned today to terminate NFL programming. Guess what I was told? I had been "misinformed" because now I was not technically enrolled since the season had ended. The rep. said she would make a note on my account that the service should not be renewed but that I should carefully watch for a notification of automatic renewal on the May or June billing.
i told her that was not acceptable and I wanted that programming removed from my account immediately. And, I explained to her that each and every time I have phoned DIRECTV I have been told that I had been "misinformed" on my previous call. I asked her, "Surely everyone in your organization is not offering misleading information?"
She finally said she had taken care of it and I would receive email notification within 24 hours.
We will see…
Methinks this company is attempting sleight of hand in their business tactics!
Wonder how many other people have been suckered with this scam? What would the FCC do about this I wonder.
I know…probably nothing.
We are certainly becoming a nation of liars and shysters.
Switched from DirecTV to Century Stink–and hugely regret it. The Stink does this same stuff. It has 189 negs on Yelp. They will say anything–oh, your bill's too high–how does X sound? When you say yes, you get a little lower, but never to X, and then a jump back above what you complained about before. It's all a game with these people.
Aileen I am sorry you had to go through that. Did you ask to speak to the supervisor. If the person I am speaking to cannot give me sufficient explanation, I ask for the person over them. Even if you do not favor what they may than explain it is usually more detailed.
Lee, I thought about that and have decided that if I do not receive a confirmation email of cancellation, I will begin a phone, email and written letter blitz every day! When I asked for a supervisor in the past, I was told that they would submit a request to the supervisor to return my call. Of course those calls never came.
I have wondered this afternoon, how many fixed income seniors are suckered into this scheme? I am a stubborn old bird so I will fight to the finish. But I know many who cannot wage this type of battle.
Shame on DIRECTV -AND- the NFL for supporting this practice!
Stories like your experience with DirectTV are the single most important reason I've never switched to satellite TV. I heard dozens of stories like this over the years. I happened to have Time Warner and they are nothing to brag about either, I assure you. Rock bottom customer service, third rate technical help, talking to someone from some mysterious part of the world for whom English seems to be a fourth language, let alone a second language. It's a mess. They get us addicted to their service, rake in the big bucks with their ridiculously high rates, and then kick us in the butt. That's their business model, based on their performance and customer service.
Update today – 02-09-16:
No email confirmation was received
Called again.
Alyssa assured me the renewal had been cancelled.
Gave me her agent number as a reference.
I have it all documented.
Oh, Lord have mercy.
I just saw an ad for HRC…starring Eric Holder.
That is low.
By the way, I have missed yet another Briefing. What did I miss?
Can't tell you Lee.
I refuse to watch them.
Sorry Lee – I just don't watch the briefings. I usually rely on you to alert us if anything important occurs! Bless your heart!
Just saw where Noranda Aluminum is declaring bankruptcy and potentially closing one of the very, very few major employers in SE Missouri. If this plant is shuttered the entire economic infrastructure of that area may collapse and I am not exaggerating.
Also read where Alcoa is closing a facility in Indiana that employed 600 people.
Folks – we need to examine the candidates closely based on their stance regarding the issues impacting our country.
I wonder what the real unemployment rate is?
The real unemployment rate is probably approaching 20-25%.
They underestimate our knowledge Aileen.
Yes, but it seems we are so few…
We far outnumber them.
Chris Christie for President
Tks Steve.
Great videos especially the last one.
HaHaha,. Star, you might love this.
Oh yeah!
Kasich is the real deal…..NOT.
sports!!, cam newton got what he deserved for impersonating Liberace. Loved it….a lesson in faking it…..now on to Bill Clinton doing the same for ….it
This must be one of the 1/5th of peaceful Muslims.
I give up!


text: People are already worrying that payza may be shut down by the u.s. government soon, since its an online money service like Liberty Reserve was. This is total bs, Payza has an entirely different business structure then Liberty Reserve. 1. Payza is not a digital currency, you have accounts in usd,euro etc. 2. Payza is owned by a U.K. based company 3. Payza has a license to operate in the United States as a money transfer service 4. Payza is designed to be a rival to paypal Liberty Reserve did not even have a license to operate in Costa Rica,whereas Payza works hard to make sure they are legal in every country they operate in. The company that bought payza(formerly alertpay) is a consultant company in the field of advanced payments. There is no need to worry about Payza being shut down, the people that claim it may be shut down, do not know what they are talking about.


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Call for Expressions of Interest: Framework Contract to provide consultancy services for the Mobilising Private Investment for NDC Implementation project in Kenya
CDKN undertook a scoping study on private investment for NDC implementation that highlighted the opportunities in replacing charcoal as a cooking fuel in Kenya's urban centers. SSN intends to take forward the recommendations from the scoping study and contract more in-depth analysis and technical assistance to support the charcoal replacement business case.
The objective of this Expression of Interest is to enable SSN to identify and select a suitable service provider(s) to undertake discrete scopes of work under the Mobilising Private Investment for NDC Implementation project. In order to evaluate bidders, SSN requires the information sought in this EOI from each Bidder who wishes to be considered as a preferred supplier for future work.
The closing date for responses to this EOI is 15th December 2017.
Please refer to the Project Terms of Reference (ToR) and the Bidder Application Template
Clarification questions
- Please can you confirm that this EOI window is for the full Phase A (all 3 work streams)?
- Based on the email, we understand that Phase A will begin immediately after a firm is chosen based on their EOI, and that there will not be a proposal stage to bid on the broader scope of work from the ToR. Is this the correct interpretation, or will be there be a call for proposals to complete all other parts of the scope of work in the New Year?
The purpose of this EOI is to select a Preferred Supplier(s) (possibly more than one) for any work that SSN/CDKN decide to follow up on – flowing from the scoping study – relating to private sector investment in NDCs in Kenya. This selection will potentially include the Preferred Supplier(s) for any of the 3 workstreams mentioned – including follow up work. As things stand, we are likely to target Charcoal Replacement and not small scale forestry, biomass replacement for industry, or small scale DC appliances/equipment (all mentioned as possible options in the completed scoping study). However, we do not rule out these as possible areas of focus for the future. We intend to enter into a framework contract with the Preferred Supplier(s) and then award contracts based on discrete scopes of work from time to time.
The proposed comparative fuel analysis will begin immediately after the EOI – and will be awarded to a firm based on the outcome of this EOI, once a discrete scope of work and price has been agreed. It will not be necessary for the Preferred Supplier(s) to compete in a detailed proposal stage. It is our intention to begin discussions on this first discrete scope of work immediately after the conclusion of the EOI process.
Depending on the outcome of the EOI, future work (other than the comparative fuel study) may be competed between two or more firms, who were selected (as preferred suppliers) from this EOI. It is also possible, should a specific piece of future work be beyond the capacity of the Preferred Supplier/s, that we compete again on the open market.


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Sleep Like A Baby
I'll tell you what, if I were a sleeping princess and Prince Charming planted a kiss on me to wake me up, I'd knock him on his keister. Thank goodness I'm not a princess huh?
When I look at the many pictures of my grandson I can't help but notice that this little boy loves to sleep. He looks so sweet, angelic, and peaceful when I'm looking over him as he's sleeping.
Unfortunately for me these days a peaceful slumber is in short supply and my brain is turning to mush. Why just the other day as I was preparing to say grace before eating, something quite strange happened.
I didn't realize it until I was at the halfway mark, then it came to me, "oh my goodness, why am I counting?" I seriously started from one through about seven before I recognized that this was not my prayer.
My only saving 'grace' – I was not blessing the food for a group of people. That would have been the ultimate embarrassment.
A Growing Problem
You've probably heard that here in the U.S. we are in the midst of a national sleep epidemic. It's so serious that we even have (I didn't find this out until I began writing this article), an awareness week dedicated to bringing attention to this issue. The National Sleep Foundation at sleepfoundation.org, has a boatload of information to improve public "health and well-being through sleep education and advocacy."
Examples of Sleep Disorders
- Insomnia – inability to obtain sufficient sleep, especially when chronic; difficulty in falling or staying asleep; sleeplessness.
- Sleep Apnea – occurs when a person's breathing is interrupted during sleep.
- Circadian Rhythm Disorders – some examples are jet lag, narcolepsy, Shift Work Disorder, and Non-24
(Non-24 is a serious, chronic circadian rhythm disorder that's very common in people who are totally blind. It causes nighttime sleep problems and a wide range of daytime difficulties, including an overwhelming urge to nap that may lead to decreased function at work and school, as well as complications in one's social life.)
Contributing factors that lead to sleep disorders are as varied as the disorders themselves so for the purposes of this post the focus will be on insomnia. Insomnia is so much more than not being able to sleep. It's frustrating because no matter how tired I may be when I try to go to sleep I cannot shut down internally.
Tossing and turning, waking up multiple times during the night, to the point of going into my living room and listening to a book is nerve-wracking because all I can focus on is the fact that I can't sleep which causes additional stress. Additionally, In the morning and throughout the day I'm exhausted which leads to napping and subsequent issues trying to get to sleep at bedtime.
What are some of the causes of insomnia?
- Some medications (antidepressants for example)
- Stress or anxiety
- Depression (yeah my antidepressant fixed my depression but now I have insomnia, and I'm depressed over the insomnia which is causing me stress, it's a vicious cycle I'll tell ya)
- Disruption of the sleep cycle
What are some of the effects of insomnia?
- Sleepiness, fatigue, irritability
- Decreased mental faculties (I think substituting counting numbers for a blessing 'counts' here)
- Can lead to health issues like diabetes, high blood pressure or heart problems
- Weight gain
How can the effects of insomnia be decreased?
- Exercise several times weekly
- Going to bed and waking the same time on a daily basis even on weekends
- Minimizing exposure to blue light i.e., tablets, computer screens, cell phones, and tvs prior to going to bed
- Darkening the room by eliminating all light sources and/or using a sleep mask
I remember reading an article years ago that basically said tvs in the bedroom are a bad idea because they can lead to sleep disturbances. The bedroom should be a calm, inviting haven. With this in mind it's been about 6 years or so since I've had a tv in my bedroom and while I don't miss it at least I know the lack of a tv in my bedroom doesn't contribute to my insomnia.
A while back I came across a breathing exercise that claims to cure sleeplessness and can be used in other stress related situations. The 4-7-8 sleep technique believed to have originated in Ancient India has been embraced by Dr. Andrew Weil who instructs on this method (video of the technique is included in this post). Dr. Weil stands by this approach but he clearly states that it takes consistent practice until it works.
Following are the 4 steps:
- Exhale through the mouth with a whoosh
- Inhale through the nose for a count of 4 seconds
- Hold your breath for 7 seconds
- Then exhale for 8 seconds
- Do this 4 times to clear the brain
Sleep disorders are a major health concern in the U.S. as evidenced by a Google search that returned 45 million results. Below I've listed a few websites where you can get additional resources and information on the types, causes, and help for sleep related issues. If you are experiencing disruptive sleep issues before a self-diagnosis or more importantly, self-medicating,check with your doctor.
Have you ever experienced issues falling or staying asleep?
"Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together."~Thomas Dekker


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Dingli company biomass drying granulating production line again to meet Lebanon customer visited. Biomass drying granulating production line is one of the most important representatives of the biomass energy equipment products. After drying the wood chips, sawdust, wood flour etc and then extruded into particles instead of coal combustion. Wood pellets are easy to store, easy to transport, high calorific value, long burn time and burns nearly pollution-free etc advantages in foreign countries have been respected.
Tourism is Lebanon country main economy source, so it is the relatively stringent in requirements of environmental protection. The customers pay attention to environmental purification technology of biomass pellet production line. Biomass pellet used more widely.
The customers visited our production and processing workshop inner facilities, product structure, and biomass drying and granulating production line try installed machine. Customers are satisfied with our service and product quality.
Customer is greatly appreciate for our professional attitude and patience. Equipment quality also gave a high evaluation. After the visited held talks in the Conference room, both sides after an afternoon of detailed communication, who is reached an initial cooperation agreement and signed a letter of intent.
Overseas market is our company key promote marketing in 2016. Our company through a comprehensive and long-term strategy adjustment, continues to deepen the overseas marketing. Welcome at home and abroad our company to visit and order.
We are committed to providing high quality and high quality drying solutions for enterprises / individuals,Welcome to submit requirements,Find our design custom!


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A t-shirt bearing a quotation from the world's most wanted woman, Samantha Lewthwaite, has gone on sale. It features the words given by the 'white widow' in a newspaper interview after her husband murdered commuters in the July 7th bombings in London.
Although possibly not the perfect present for wannabe jihadis who may be unlikely to celebrate the Christian festival, it has nonetheless hit the shelves as people look for stocking fillers and presents ahead of the festivities.
The top, which is available on Amazon, features the line: "Jamal is accountable for his actions 100 (per cent) and I condemn with all my heart what he has done".
It refers to the interview given to The Sun newspaper about her first husband, Germaine Lindsay, but it seems there is some debate as to whether the American manufacturers have confused him with her current husband, Fahmi Jamal Salim or were using Lindsay's second name which is also Jamal.
Following reports that she had been killed by sniper fire whilst fighting in the Ukraine, Lewthwaite and her husband posted a 'selfie' from their home in Somalia.
Despite initially condemning the actions of her first husband, saying she knew nothing about it, Lewthwaite later surfaced in a Muslim ghetto in Mombasa where she was assembling bomb-making equipment.
She is the subject of a series of international arrest warrants over her alleged involvement in terrorist activities including an al-Qaeda orchestrated plot to bomb Kenyan beach hotels popular with Western tourists in Christmas 2011. She has also been linked to other Islamic terror attacks including the murdering of shoppers in Nairobi's Westgate mall.
The White Widow, who was born in Northern Ireland to a British soldier, is known as a poster girl for female jihadis in East Africa.
The t-shirt, available in pink, blue, white and grey sells for £20 and is said by manufacturers to be part of a range featuring quotes from "incredible novelists, playwrights, creative thinkers, and philosophers that are icons to our generation".
This t-shirt, they claim: "Conveys the essence of self-assurance, knowledge, thought, inspiration, wisdom, love, the meaning of life, the universe and all sorts of things."
The controversial t-shirt has angered some who say that Lewthwaite's words should not be considered alongside people who contributed to society and culture, such as Shakespeare and Hans Christen Andersen.
So far, no reviews have been posted on the shopping website.


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As the nations of the world become more interdependent, knowledge of the world's languages and understanding of world cultures become more significant for effective global communication and peaceful coexistence. Language study prepares today's students for tomorrow's opportunities by supporting interdisciplinary instruction and developing cross-cultural understanding. Our mission is to provide students with a well-rounded liberal arts background and to ensure that they gain competency in the target language and familiarity with the literature, history and culture of the civilization in question.
The major in French consists of 33 credits and is intended to enable students to acquire an advanced level of proficiency in the language. Literature and culture courses are designed to provide a historical, political and social overview of the French-speaking world. All courses are taught in French unless otherwise noted. Teacher certification candidates in the Adolescence Inclusive program are also required to take FCE 473 Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition in addition to the number of credits required for the major.
What can I do with a major in French?
Admission to the Program
Any undergraduate student can declare this major.
Program Requirements
Students in the French major pursue either a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree, and must complete the corresponding degree's requirements.
All courses in the major must be completed with a grade of "C" or higher. Courses with grades lower than "C" must be repeated.
The major in French consists of 33 credits as follows.
Required Courses (Total: 24 credits)
- FRN 212 Intermediate French II
- FRN 350 Conversing with French Cinema
- FRN 351 Compose Yourself: Writing in French
- FRN 352 French Culture and Civilization in Four Senses
- FRN 355 Couscous, Coca-Cola, and Camembert: France Today
- FRN 404 Advanced French Grammar and Conversation
- FRN 456 Francophone Literatures and Cultures
- FRN 458 Romanticism to Existentialism: French Literary Movements
Electives (9 credits in French at the 300 or 400 level)
- See course descriptions.
Note: Teacher certification candidates in the Adolescence Inclusive program are also required to take FCE 473 Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition in addition to the number of credits required for the major.
Student Learning OutcomesUpon completion of a baccalaureate degree in French, graduates will be able to:
- Express themselves fully in French not only on familiar topics but also on some concrete social, academic, and professional topics in various time frames.
- Deliver detailed presentations in French, usually with accuracy, clarity, and precision, on a variety of topics and issues related to community interests and some special fields of expertise.
- Write extensively in French with significant precision and detail on a variety of topics, most complex issues, and some special fields of expertise.
- Identify the main idea and most supporting details in authentic oral situations in French on a variety of topics of personal and general interest, as well as some topics of professional interest.
- Demonstrate and understanding of French texts on most topics that deal with special interests, unfamiliar situations, and abstract concepts.
- Explain key perspectives of the French-speaking cultures within a comparative framework (i.e. comparing the target culture to their own or to a series of cultures) and connect them to cultural products and practices.
- Interpret and synthesize ideas and critical issues from a wide range of historical and contemporary cultural artifacts.
- Analyze ideas and critical issues from cultural artifacts from multiple viewpoints and approaches.


text:
I have been making a conscious effort in the last few weeks to reduce the number of emails I write/type.
In particular I have been:
- Only checking my emails a few times each day.
- Not sending emails to people within walking/shouting distance.
- Giving significant microbiological results by phone or by person instead of email.
- Avoiding sending emails to multiple people (I have tried to restrict the number of recipients to a maximum of 3 for any one email)
- Not getting caught up in microbiological/laboratory email debates. (Not only do these waste time, they rarely resolve anything or lead to any form of consensus.)
If anyone sends an email critical of the lab or its staff, including myself, then I immediately switch media and either pick up the phone or go and see the person to try and resolve the problem.
As a result my inbox is quieter and I have much more time to do other things. Email is very addictive and I am trying to wean myself off it somewhat…


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|Project by hondurankid
|posted 06-17-2016 01:50 AM
|1453 views
|4 times favorited
|8 comments
8 comments so far
#1 posted 06-17-2016 06:15 AM
Beautiful top lid and wooden hinges. She is lucky to have you (as woodworker too).
-- Ivan, Croatia, Wooddicted
#2 posted 06-17-2016 06:37 PM
I like the wood hinges and very impressive for your first box. Watch out they are addictive!!!
-- Sometimes you're flush and sometimes you're bust, and when you're up, it's never as good as it seems, and when you're down, you never think you'll be up again, but life goes on.
#3 posted 06-17-2016 06:55 PM
Very nice. I especially like the wooden hinges. Looks very well made. How did you inlay the walnut and did you cut the lid as one combined (cherry / walnut) piece to get the angles to match?
-- Notice woodworker and now metal worker - Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
#4 posted 06-17-2016 07:02 PM
For the inlay i use my tablesaw and cut a small dado around the outside of it then glued in some small walnut strips. For the lid, i glued the walnut layer on before cut the angle on it.
#5 posted 06-17-2016 09:07 PM
Very nice box indeed! I bet your girlfriend loved it. I agree that box making IS addictive and my favorite projects. Welcome to lumberjocks and I look forward to more!
-- We all make mistakes, the trick is to fix it in a way that says "I meant to do that".
#6 posted 06-17-2016 09:08 PM
Nice work!
-- Ken, "Everyday above ground is a good day!"
#7 posted 06-17-2016 10:33 PM
I made a jewelry box for my girlfriend nearly 40 years ago, we've been married 39.
-- Learn More About Making Wooden Models. An Index Of My Model making Blogs. http://lumberjocks.com/htl/blog/116729
#8 posted 06-18-2016 01:42 AM
Really nice box. Great lines and good proportion too. Wooden hinges are tricky, but the more you experiment the easier they get. I used a box joint jig to make the hinges for this box that worked out pretty good
-- "Well, the world needs ditch-diggers too..." - Judge Smails
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text:
Laurentia Technologies has a collaboration agreement with the Center for Molecular Recognition (IDM-UPV) for scaling-up strips or smart tags based on colorimetric sensors that indicate the quality status of food.
These devices are capable of integrating into the packaging material of the food itself guaranteeing the presence of the indicator throughout the distribution cycle, storage and transportation. Thus the safety and quality of products is controlled until they reach the final consumer.
The development of the optical sensor is based on a nanoscopic matrix where a dye is integrated, and the color is released in the presence of substances that determine the loss of properties of food. Therefore they act with a color change upon detection of certain acids, amines released by mycotoxins or food.
By a visual change, you can alert consumers and the food industry on the product status, establishing a precise lifetime certifying the state of health. So the package itself will report about the degradation of the product throughout the processing cycle.
The encapsulation technique has allowed us to generate miniemulsion of silica capsules in which we can introduce different types of fertilizers, pesticides and crop strengtheners. Through our technology, the release time is increased, allowing the farmer to reduce the number of applications that need to do a certain phytosanitary and / or fertilizer.
We can choose from a wide variety of products to be encapsulated always preferring those natural products that guarantee zero waste and we do not generate any problem of toxicity to humans and the environment.
Laurentia has the technology developed at the University Polytechnic of Valencia based on chemical modification of certain nanoparticles with natural molecules that provide antimicrobial properties.
Furthermore, these nanoparticles can be anchored chemically on the surface of the plastic and / or included in coatings suitable for food contact.
This ensures that no migration problems of antimicrobial molecules to food.


text:
Company donations
Tel.: +45 36 44 24 44
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
+45 36 44 24 44
Send mail
Value through knowhow
Aage Christensen is a consulting, trade and competence house assuring you added value of your investment. We handpick suppliers in key areas of business and industry and offer products and solutions based on experience, dialogue and results. Learn more about our offerings and get an impression of your benefits with Aage Christensen as your partner.
Supply of technical components for industry ✔ - Consulting engineer ✔ - Service and maintenance of all equipment ✔
Aage Christensen A/S
Herstedøstervej 9
2600 Glostrup
Tel.: +45 36 44 24 44
Mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
VAT No.: DK 39191806
For direct telephone numbers and e-mail addresses go to Employees.
Business hours:
Monday - Thursday, 08.30 - 16.00 h
Friday, 08.30 - 15.30 h
Saturday - Sunday closed
Activated carbon filter
Column internals
Cryogenic equipment
Dryers/coolers and peeling equipment
Homogenizers/static mixers
Liquid filtration/separation
Post-tensioning systems/soil anchors
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Process analytical technology
Sludge treatment systems
Vacuum dryers
Enter your information to receive latest news about our products and applications here.
To learn more about our latest news please visit our Food-Supply profile.
Herstedøstervej 9, 2600 Glostrup - Tel. +45 36 44 24 44 - Mail: email@example.com - VAT No.: 39191806


text:
(A revised version of this paper appears in IEEE Expert, August 1996, pp. 16-23, under the title "AI Models for Business Process Reengineering".)
1. Introduction
In response to competitive pressures, customer demands and ever-changing regulatory conditions, many companies are fundamentally rethinking the way they do business (e.g., [Davenport93] [Hammer93]). During this business re-engineering process it is important to be able to clearly link production processes and organizational services to business goals and objectives. Artificial Intelligence in general and Knowledge Representation in particular can greatly contribute towards technologies which enable the modeling of organizations and the analysis of alternatives in support of the business re-engineering process.
For example, in attempting to re-design claims processing,an insurance company might ask questions such as:
Traditional modeling techniques such as structured analysis, data flow diagrams and entity-relationship modelling focus on the modelling of activities and entities. While these are important concepts for systems development, they offer little help in the search for innovative alternative solutions to business problems. More generally, existing models have been designed for describing what a business process is like, but they cannot express why the process is the way it is. The motivations, intents and rationales behind the activities and entities are missing from these models. Most business processes involve many participants or players, with complex relationships among them. These relationships are strategic in the sense that each party is concerned about opportunities and vulnerabilities, and seek to protect or further their interests in an attempt to redesign the organization. Indeed, a central argument in business process reengineering is that if one does not understand why things are done the way they are, one is likely to simply automate outdated processes (leading to the proverbial ``paving of the cow path''), and miss the opportunity to innovative in redesigning work processes.
In the insurance example, the insurance company wants to minimize the payout to claimants, that is why appraisers are hired to keep repairs to the necessary minimum. At the same time, the insurance company wants to keep customers happy so that they continue to renew their policies. Car owners want repair damages to be assessed fairly, and are likely to get body shops to give repair estimates that maximize the insurance payout. What information is collected and used by the claims representative (accident particulars, witness statements) and the appraiser (e.g., photographs of damage, multiple repair estimates) reflects the strategic interests of the various parties.
In choosing among alternative business processes, analysts need to be able to describe these relationships, and to propose and argue about solutions from strategic perspectives. Currently there is little formal support for this kind of reasoning. Business process design is usually done informally, and particular design decisions are hard to relate to business objectives.
This paper sketches a new framework for modeling and analyzing organizations to help support business process re-engineering [Yu95]. The framework is based partly on a model called i* (for ''distributed intensionality'') where processes are taken to involve social actors who depend on each other for goals to be achieved, tasks to be performed, and resources to be furnished. The i* framework includes a Strategic Dependency model -- for describing the network of relationships among actors, and a Strategic Rationale model -- for describing and supporting the reasoning that each actor has about its relationships with other actors. These models have been formally represented in the conceptual modelling language Telos [Mylopoulos90] and their semantics are based on intentional concepts such as goal, belief, ability, and commitment (e.g., [Cohen90]).
The framework has been presented in detail in [Yu95] and has been related to different application areas, including information systems requirements engineering, business process reengineering, and software processes [Yu94]. In this paper, we emphasize the need for analysts to link organizational design decisions to strategic business reasoning, using a hypothetical example from the insurance industry (also described in [Hammer93]). We also outline the importance of analysis tools for the proposed new modeling framework and sketch an analysis toolset under development at the University of Toronto.
The other major research component on which we base this proposal originates in the Cognitive Robotics project, also based at the University of Toronto, which has developed an elaborate framework for representing and reasoning about action. This framework has led to the development of a prototype tool for modelling possibly complex, concurrent actions, using a declarative, logic-based language -- called CONGOLOG -- whose execution can then be simulated for analysis purposes using an interpreter.
2. The Strategic Dependency Model
A Strategic Dependency model is a graph, where each node represents an actor, and each link between two actors indicates that one actor depends on the other for something in order that the former may attain some goal. We call the depending actor the depender, and the actor who is depended upon the dependee. The object around which the dependency centres is called the dependum. By depending on another actor for a dependum, an actor is
able to achieve goals that it is otherwise unable to achieve, or not as easily or as well. At the same time, the depender becomes vulnerable. If the dependee fails to deliver the dependum, the depender would be adversely affected in its ability to achieve its goals.
For example, a car owner can have his car repaired by a body shop, even if he does not have the ability to do the repairs himself. However, he is vulnerable to the car not being repaired. The model distinguishes among four types of dependencies -- goal-, task resource-, and softgoal-dependency -- based on the type of freedom that is allowed in the relationship between depender and dependee. Three levels of dependency strengths are distinguished based on the degree of vulnerability.
Figure 1 shows a Strategic Dependency model for a traditional automobile insurance business configuration. The car owner depends on the insurance company to reimburse for the repairs from an accident (ClaimsPayout). For this, car owner pays insurance premium in order to have coverage (RepairsBeCovered). The insurance company wants to offer good service to the customer in order to keep the business (CustomerBeHappy). To maintain profitability, the company depends on appraisers to appraise damages so that only the minimal necessary repairs are approved. The car owner depends on the claims appraiser for a fair appraisal. However, the appraiser can be expected to act in the interests of the insurance company because of his dependence on the latter for continued employment. The car owner, in turn, can depend on the body shop to give an estimate that maximizes the car owner's interests, since the body shop depends on the car owner for repeat business.
Figure 1: Strategic Dependency model of traditional auto insurance (the "as is" arrangement)
An analysis of such strategic dependencies at a more detailed level would reveal the role of these dependencies in current business processes. Such processes -- and the information systems that support them -- have this kind of understanding entrenched as implicit assumptions. These assumptions are often ignored during organizational analysis because existing modelling techniques do not encourage or support the modelling of relationships that involve intentional concepts. Without this deeper understanding, it is difficult to evolve the organization to meet changing needs, as evidenced by the problem of ``legacy business processes'', as well as ''legacy information systems''. With rapid changes in business environments, and recent management concepts such as business reengineering, well-entrenched relationships are being re-examined and radically reconfigured. Traditional business patterns and assumptions can no longer be taken for granted.
Hammer and Champy ([Hammer93] pp. 136-143) describes a hypothetical but plausible scene in which a process redesign team explores new innovative solutions to revitalize an automobile insurance business. Since it costs as much to process a small claim as a large claim, one way to reduce administrative costs is to reduce insurance company involvement in dealing with small claims. ``Why not let the insurance agent handle small claims?'', it was suggested. The insurance agent will do all the inquiry and payout, while the insurance
company will concentrate on large claims that have more significant impact on profitability. The agent get to cement his relationship with the customer, while the customer is more likely to get a fair hearing from the agent about a fair payout amount. This keeps the customer happy, which is what the insurance company wants.
Figure 2: Strategic Dependency model for alternative 1 ("let the insurance agent handle it")
Figure 2 shows the Strategic Dependency graph for this new business process configuration. Needless to say, shifting the claims handling responsibilities to the insurance
agent means that the information needs of the insurance agent are also radically altered. Based on the new configuration of strategic dependencies, one could derive what information needs to be shared or sent among insurance agents and the insurance company, and how accurate and up-to-date they need to be.
Once the traditional wisdom of how an insurance business should be run is no longer regarded as sacred, even more radical solutions could emerge. ``Why not let the body shop handle the claims?!'', someone else suggested. Traditionally, body shops are not likely to be on the side of the insurance company. For example, one would not expect an insurance company to be willing to pay according to a body shop's repair estimates, since the body shop is on the customer's side, as illustrated by the strategic dependencies in Figure 1. However, for small claims, it may not be a bad idea to bypass all the paperwork and help the customer get his car fixed as quickly as possible. This meets the customer's goal to have his car fixed promptly, while reducing costs dramatically for the insurance company. However, this approach raises concerns about possible fraud, which need to be addressed. Figure 3 shows the Strategic Dependency model for this proposal.
Figure 3: Strategic Dependency model for alternative 2 ("let the body shop handle it")
The Strategic Dependency model encourages a deeper understanding of a business process by focusing on intentional dependencies among actors, beyond the usual understanding based on activities and entity flows. It helps identify what is at stake, for whom, and what impacts are likely if a dependency fails.
Although a Strategic Dependency model provide hints about why a process is structured in a certain way, it does not sufficiently support the process of suggesting, exploring, and evaluating alternative solutions. That is the role of the Strategic Rationale model.
3. The Strategic Rationale Model
A Strategic Rationale model is a graph with four main types of nodes -- goal, task, resource, and softgoal -- and two main types of links -- means-ends links and task decomposition links. A Strategic Rationale graph describes the reasoning behind each actor's relationships with other actors, thus revealing the internal linkages that connect external strategic dependencies.
A process is often depicted as a collection of activities with entity flows among them (as in a ``workflow'' analysis). For example, a claims handling process would include such activities as verifying the insurance policy coverage, collecting accident information, determining who is at fault, appraising damages, and making an offer to settle. In the Strategic Rationale model, we arrange these into a hierarchy of means-ends relationships and task decompositions (Figure 4). When a process element is expressed as a goal, this means that there might be different possible ways of accomplishing it. A task specifies one particular way of doing things (of accomplishing a goal), in terms of a decomposition into
Figure 4: Strategic Rationale model to support reasoning about reengineering the claims handling process
subtasks, subgoals, resources, and softgoals. In seeking ways to redesign a business process, goals offer potential places to look for improvement. An ambitious redesign effort needs to discover and rethink high-level goals -- by asking ``why'' questions, rather than be content with solutions for low-level goals. Higher goals are discovered by asking ``why'' questions. Once sufficiently high-level goals have been identified, alternatives may be sought by asking ``how else'' the goals can be accomplished.
In the auto insurance example described in [Hammer93], the reengineering team wanted to
consider radical solutions, by identifying a high-level goal: that claims be settled. Unencumbered by current business thinking about how this goal should be accomplished, the team arrived at innovative proposals that involve new strategic business relationships with insurance agents and body shops.
Each alternative may have different implications for a number of quality goals, or ``softgoals'', such as CustomerBeHappy, FastProcessing, and Profitable. A softgoal is one which does not have a priori, clear-cut criteria of satisfaction. Although some of these can be measured and quantified, a qualitative approach can be used at the stage of exploring the space of alternatives. Contributions to softgoals can be positive or negative, and are judged to be adequate or inadequate. The treatment of softgoals is based on a framework developed by Chung for dealing with non-functional requirements in software engineering [Chung93].
By explicitly representing means-ends relationships, the Strategic Rationale model provides a systematic way for exploring the space of possible new process designs. Generic knowledge in the form of methods and rules can be used to suggest new solutions and to identify related goals [Yu95] .
4. The Business Process Model
Most existing process models are deficient in that they cannot deal with partial descriptions of world states. They only describe processes operationally, i.e., in terms of operations that produce new output states given completely specified input states. Analysis of such models involves stepping through a process by instantiating it with a full description of a world state. However, business processes have uncertainties and are frequently open-ended or only partially specified. For our purposes, it is important to be able to specify and analyze partial models of business processes in the context of partial models of the world.
To address this problem, we are adapting a logical framework for representing and reasoning about processes [Lesperance94, Lesperance95] which has previously been used for designing intelligent software agents and can deal with incompleteness in business process specifications. Primitive actions are modeled by specifying their preconditions and postconditions in a logical language. Given a specification for a set of primitive actions, the analyst can then specify complex processes using a variety of control structures, including nondeterminisic choice and concurrent execution. An example is shown in Figure 5.
The set of process expressions defined can be viewed as a declarative modelling language for business processes. The modelling constructs supported by the framework include sequencing (';'), conditional (if-then) and iterative constructs (while <condition> do...) but also concurrent activity ('||'), non-deterministic choice (choose) and others. An interpreter for the language has been implemented in PROLOG which supports the simulation of a modeled process. Particularly noteworthy features of the
procedure determineCostToSettle(claim)
% concurrently obtain vehicle and medical appraisals
choose v [VehicleAppraiser(v)?; % pick an appraiser for vehicle
if ClaimInvolvesMedicalExpenses(claim) then
choose m [ MedicalAppraiser(m)?; % pick a medical appraiser
end procedure
framework include:
Process specifications can be analyzed in the framework using a variety of sophisticated reasoning methods. Moreover, the framework can be used for proving properties of processes in addition to simulation and validation. Finally, the framework includes a model of what agents know and how they can acquire additional information by doing knowledge-producing actions, such as communicating with users or other agents or searching the environment for information.
In addition to business process analysis applications [Plexousakis95], the framework has been used for robotics applications [Lesperance94] and intelligent software agent applications (e.g. meeting scheduling) [Lesperance95].
5. Tools for Analyzing Organizational Models
Apart from offering an inadequate ontology for organizational modelling, traditional organizational modelling techniques can be criticized for offering little for the analysis of organizational models. In designing the proposed new framework described in this paper, we have kept in mind the need to provide supporting analysis tools which will facilitate a re-engineering exercise by helping with the validation and verification of an organizational model under development, also by facilitating the exploration of design alternatives. Working towards this goal, we have been designing an analysis toolset using results from a variety of research projects.
The individual tools in the tool set are described in more detail below:
A Strategic Relationships Analysis Tool. This tool is based on the Strategic Dependency model of the framework. Business processes are modelled as a network of dependency relationships among agents in an organization. Agents depend on each other for goals to be achieved, tasks to be performed, and resources to be furnished. Dependencies may be threaded through roles that agents play, and positions that they occupy. These dependencies have strategic implications for agents because on the one hand, they open up opportunities (by enabling agents to achieve goals not otherwise achievable, or not as well), but on the other hand, they bring vulnerabilities (since the depended agents may fail to deliver).
This tool allows the network of strategic dependencies among agents (and positions and roles) to be constructed, refined and analyzed, including the analysis of opportunities and vulnerabilities, and analysis of patterns of dependencies based on the concepts of enforcement, assurance, and insurance. The tool also includes a graphic user interface for presenting and manipulating the model.
For example, this tool might be used to construct and analyze the claim-processing model of Figure 1 (or its alternatives, for that matter), noting goals that are not being achieved, tasks that are not being accomplished or resources that are not being furnished. The tool can also note long chains of dependencies that suggest vunerabilities, or dependency patterns which define conflict-of-interest situations.
A Strategic Relationships Redesign Tool. This tool is based on the Strategic Rationale model of the framework. and provides explicit support for the means-ends reasoning behind the design of business processes. The basic idea of this tool is that one can obtain an understanding of the ``why'' behind process elements (or steps) by following (querying) their links to process design goals (``up'' the means-ends hierarchy), extending the rationale model when appropriate . Alternatively, given some design goals, one can explore alternative ways for achieving them (proceeding ``down'' the means-ends hierarchy). This could be assisted by generic means-ends knowledge (e.g., methods for reducing errors, for preventing fraud, etc.) that are stored in a knowledge base, using knowledge structuring mechanisms such as classification and generalization. Moreover, correlation rules [Chung93] can be used to assist in the detection of cross-impacts among goals and in identifying design tradeoffs.We expect the usage of this tool to be highly interactive and iterative.
One of the challenges in constructing such a tool is to collect a representative body of means-ends knowledge in business process redesign to illustrate the practical utility of this tool. A first step towards this goal has been the collection of methods for achieving security, accuracy and performance softgoals in the context of non-functional requirements for information system design [Chung93].
A Qualitative Reasoning Support Tool. This tool is an adaptation of work also described in [Chung93] and is intended to facilitate the analysis of a collection of inter-dependent softgoals. In particular, given a softgoal dependency graph and a list of satisficed and unsatisficeable softgoal nodes, the tool can ''label'' other softgoals as satisficed, unsatisficeable or otherwise, depending on the types and destinations of the inter-dependencies for each softgoal. The algorithms for propagating labels across the softgoal dependency graph are based on qualitative reasoning techniques and are described in detail in [Chung93].
A prototype version of this tool already exists, called the NFR Assistant, and has been tried out in toy applications. It should be noted that the qualitative component of design reasoning is essential in supporting business process redesign. While quantitative measures are important in evaluating finished designs, they are of limited use during the iterative design phase when many competing (or complementary) goals need to be traded off and new alternatives explored. There is virtually no support for this type of analysis in existing tools.
A Process Model Validation Tool. This tool provides support for validating a process model, that is, confirming that it is consistent with the modeller's understanding of the process. Validation is accomplished by allowing the user to simulate the execution of a process. Given a description of the conditions in effect at the beginning of a business process, the tool answers queries about the state of world as the process proceeds. The tool offers a declarative language for process specification and can simulate processes even when a process or its initial state are only partially specified.
This tool under development is based on the CONGOLOG interpreter mentioned earlier. Given a process specification and a partial description of an organizational state, the simulation tool is intended to answer questions about the state of the organization during and after the process has been carried out. Such symbolic simulations require a sophisticated theoretical foundation for reasoning about action, including dealing with the frame problem, i.e., discovering through a computationally tractable procedure all things that do not change by the specified process.
A Process Verification Tool. Along similar grounds, the process verification tool is intended to assist with verifying that a specified process satisfies given properties, in particular, state constraints (analogous to integrity constraints in databases). Given a set of process specifications and a set of constraints that have to be maintained by the process, the tool will suggest strengthened specifications to ensure that the constraints will be maintained. [Plexousakis95] describes results concerning static or transition constraints. On-going work by the same author is looking at extension of the analysis to more general temporal constraints.
Like the validation tool, this tool needs to address long-standing AI problems such as the frame and ramification problems. It is important to note that although these two tools are based on the same theoretical foundation, they are expected to use different inference engines, based on different algorithms and capable of dealing with different classes of problems.
Toolset Integration. Although these tools are being designed relatively independently of each other, they are anticipated to work synergistically through the knowledge management layer in the subsequent integration. The integration is to be accomplished through an open architecture, shown in Figure 5.
The architecture employs a message bus , whose function is to serve as information interchange among tools which were developed independently but can benefit from information sharing. The particular bus we propose to use is called the Telos Message Bus and was developed in the context of a software engineering research project. In its current form, the bus uses an extensible object model called Telos [Mylopoulos90], along with a message-based communication protocol system called mbus. In addition, the integration architecture includes a repository which stores sharable information among the integrated tools, using the Telos model (Figure 6). The integration architecture is further described in [Mylopoulos94]. The repository has already been implemented in C++ using a commercial object-oriented database system as its persistent storage manager.
5. Conclusions
As organizations strive to keep up with ever-changing customer demands and market needs, there will be growing demands for modelling and analysis tools that help capture and analyze the strategic relationships among business work units and external players, such as customers, suppliers, and business partners. We have sketched one approach which accommodates such organizational modelling and analysis, and is founded on the premise that organizations are made up of strategic, intentional actors. The Strategic Dependency model allows the modelling of how strategic actors relate to each other intentionally, while the Strategic Rationale model allows modelling of the means-ends reasoning employed by organizational actors as they explore alternative ways of relating to each other in fullfiling goals and accomplishing work. The Business Process model offers a declarative, logic-based notation for modelling, verifying and validating business processes. These models and their associated tools incorporate a number of AI techniques, including means-ends analysis, qualitative reasoning, agent modelling and theories of action. We are currently working towards the integration of the three models into a single framework we propose to call Tropos.
In summary, we have argued that the adoption of a knowledge representation and reasoning approach to organizational modelling and re-engineering facilitates the connection between business processes and underlying business objectives. It also provides the formal foundation for a number of different analysis tools that can help the re-engineer explore alternatives and lend credibility to the product of her work.
It is interesting to note that the models constructed in terms of our proposed framework can also facilitate the development of information systems to support the re-engineered business processes.
[Chung93] Chung, K., L., Representing and Using Non-Functional Requirements, Ph.D. thesis, Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, 1993.
[Cohen90] P. R. Cohen and H. J. Levesque, Intention is Choice with Commitment, Artificial Intelligence 42 (3), 1990.
[Davenport93] T. H. Davenport, Process Innovation: Reengineering Work Through Information Technology, Harvard Business School Press, 1993.
[Hammer93] M. Hammer and J. Champy, Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, HarperBusiness, 1993.
[Lesperance94] Y. Lesperance, H. Levesque, F. Lin, D. Marcu, R. Reiter, and R. Scherl, A Logical Approach to High-Level Robot Programming -- A Progress Report. In Benjamin Kuipers, editor, Control of the Physical World by Intelligent Systems, Papers from the 1994 AAAI Fall Symposium, pp. 79-85, New Orleans, LA, November, 1994.
[Lesperance95] Y. Lesperance, H. Levesque, F. Lin, D. Marcu, R. Reiter, and R. Scherl. Foundations of a Logical Approach to Agent Programming. A French version appeared in Actes des Troisiemes Journees Francophones sur l'Intelligence Artificielle Distribuee et les Systemes Multi-Agents, Chambery-St-Badolph, France, March, 1995.
[Mylopoulos90] J. Mylopoulos, A. Borgida, M. Jarke, M. Koubarakis, Telos: Representing Knowledge about Information Systems, ACM Transactions on. Information Systems 8 (4), 1990.
[Mylopoulos94] Mylopoulos, J., Bernstein, M., Ewart, G., Kontogiannis, K., Merlo, E., De Mori, R., Mueller, H., Stanley, M., Tilley, S., Tomic, M. and Wong, K., Towards an Integrated Toolset for Program Understanding, Proceedings CASCON'94, Toronto, November 1994.
[Plexousakis95] D. Plexousakis, On the Efficient Enforcement of Integrity Constraints in Temporal Deductive Knowledge Bases, Ph.D. thesis, Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Forthcoming, 1995.
[Yu94] E. Yu, J. Mylopoulos, Understanding ``Why'' in Software Process Modelling, Analysis, and Design, Proceedings Sixteenth International Conference on Software Engineering, May 16-21 1994, Sorrento, Italy, 159-168.
[Yu95] E. Yu, Modelling Strategic Relationships for Process Reengineering, Ph.D. thesis, Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto,1995.


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